DE19935174A1 - Process for producing a plastic card, carrier material and product combination of carrier material and computer program product - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for producing at least one customized plastic card (2), in which at least one unprinted plastic card (2) is produced, the at least one manufactured and unprinted plastic card (2) is releasably dispensed on a carrier material (1) that can be fed into the printer, a customized one Printing template for the at least one unprinted plastic card (2) is created, the at least one unprinted plastic card (2) is printed by the commercially available printer with the created printing template, and the at least one printed plastic card (2) is detached from the carrier material (1). The invention further relates to a carrier material which can be drawn in by the printer and has at least one unprinted plastic card (2) which can be detachably dispensed thereon.

Description

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing we at least a customized plastic card printer-retractable carrier material and a product combination of a carrier material and a computer program product.

Nowadays so-called plastic cards are increasingly used for a wide variety of applications. So are for example plastic cards used as healthy card, club card, computer card, insurance card, Bank card, credit card, ticket, service card, value card memory, guarantee pass, key card, ID card, Customer card, etc. known. Plastic cards are common for advertising and customer loyalty purposes when selling Goods and services as an ideal advertising medium turns. Due to their easily achievable long runs, he they reach extensive target groups. Also serve high quality plastic cards, for example the company image by the editor as a coat of exclusivity.

In another field of application, plastic cards are used for Identification, user identification and identification function  used. For example, permissions in Be audiences, companies, clubs and other institutions at the Possession of certain identity cards. Plastic cards are extremely handy, durable, visually appealing to be labeled tractively and permanently and / or with pictures to provide.

Another field of application is the storage of data on plastic cards.

The plastic cards are now as follows Manufactured: The manufacturer produces foils or foils sheets of plastic card material often with UV printed curing colors. In addition, in particular for credit cards, a screen printing ink for a writing area applied to the already printed film. Then The film is cut into card shape and attached to the Shipped to customers. The shipping can be done for example follow that the plastic card on a reference letter is donated by the customer easily upon receipt can replace this letter.

A disadvantage of this known method is that the Customer places an order with a special print shop to make a plastic card according to its layout Must give ideas. For cost reasons, the up reasonably associated with a high circulation. Therefore, the individual customer, for example a private man, not just one or just a few plastic cards his ideas with the corresponding information have it printed without increasing the print run Accepts costs.

The invention aims to manufacture plastic cards with customized printing ko to make it more affordable.  

The invention solves this problem with the counter claims 1, 6 and 10.

According to claim 1, a method for manufacturing is little at least one customized plastic card create, in which at least one unprinted pla Stikkarte is produced, the at least one herge put and unprinted plastic card on a printer The retractable carrier material is releasably dispensed a customized print template for the at least one blank plastic card is created, the at least one blank plastic card from one commercially available printer with the created print template is printed, and the at least one printed plastic card is released from the carrier material. With this he The method according to the invention is advantageous for the first time possible with a manufacturer, for example a print eri, make the blank plastic cards and open to releasably dispense the carrier material. The carrier material al with the at least one dispensed plastic card can then z. B. about the one retail sales to customers. This can for example, for just one plastic card agreed to create a print template according to his ideas and from his printer (for example the printer of his private personal computer) on the plastic card to let. After printing the plastic card, he can easily detach from the carrier material and thus holds one the material is of high quality card with the ge wanted information in their hands.

According to claim 6, this is a special printer feeder capable carrier material created with at least one unprinted, releasably dispensed thereon, from one commercially available printer printable plastic card.

The term "unprinted" is understood below that there is no information in the form on the plastic card  of lettering, pictures or the like is applied. Of course, the unprinted plastic card can have a certain color or a correspondingly neutral ge background pattern that the customer has no need restrictions on his draft of the artwork sets.

Everyone is familiar with the term "standard printer" meant more printer, for example in private Household, in business premises or company buildings represents is. Mostly it is the printer a personal computer, such as a laser, an inkjet, a thermal transfer, a needle, a chain printer, etc. No longer meant such Printing machines, as they are usually in printing plants are set up.

Refers to these special printers mentioned above also the concept of "printer-retractable carrier material as ". So this carrier material must be procured and be dimensioned such that it is commercially available Printers can be fed and printed.

Under the term "plastic card" z. B. all out Plastic-made cards understood in the fields of application mentioned above can be used nen.

The carrier material with suspended pla is preferred flash cards to a certain sheet size with a be certain number of plastic cards per sheet. This has the advantage that, for example, common sheet size eats (A4, A5, etc.) through retailers like a normal printer pack single sheet pier. The leaves thus obtained can then without further adaptation of the printer into the printer be inserted and via a conventional program for Design the print template or the layout of a pla  Stikkarte and to print this template on the Plastic card can be printed.

A pla. Is preferred for producing the plastic card Cut foil in card shape. So you can advantageous the cost of producing the unprinted greatly reduce the plastic cards at the manufacturer because to form the card shape only a cutting or Punching tool is required, which consists of a plastic foil put in for example in endless form or in arch form cut out individual plastic card shapes.

At least one plastic card is preferred as a monocar made of polyester and a writing field varnish for Produce a pressure-resistant printing pad on the printing surface of the at least one plastic card upset. So-called mono cards are unlike the laminates made from plastic cards that are made from consist of a single slide. These are beneficial very inexpensive to manufacture and because of it rer small thickness and associated flexibility also easy from the feeds of commercially available printers pull. Plastic cards made of polyester are also beyond Advantageously hot laser capable and can therefore be purchased usual laser printers are printed. However, the Toner is not very good on the polyester material, so to produce the pressure-resistant printing pad of the Writing field paint is applied.

According to claim 10, a product combination is created the at least one carrier material according to the invention dispensed plastic card and a computer program product to create a customized Template for the plastic card to be printed the customer and to control a commercially available printer for printing the plastic card with the created one Print template includes. The customer also benefits this product combination everything he needs to manufacture  or complete his own ideas plastic card needed. The computer program product can be designed so that it is the special Backing material (e.g. in terms of number and arrangement of the dispensed plastic cards) of the product combination nation is adapted.

The invention as well as further advantages and configurations The invention will now be based on preferred Ausfüh Example with reference to the attached single figure explained in more detail.

The figure shows a schematic top view of a carrier material 1 with dispensed plastic cards 2 .

The method according to the invention for the manufacture of such customized plastic cards 2 is explained in more detail below. In the case of mono cards, the starting material in the production of plastic cards is a film made of plastic with a certain surface texture, thickness, possibly certain fillers, etc. This film is about 0.25 mm thick when used as a thin plastic card.

It is also possible to produce hard plastic cards from several layers and to fuse them into an inseparable card body by lamination under defined printing, heating and cooling processes. Here too, the starting product can be an already laminated film from which the individual plastic cards 2 are punched out. Hard plastic cards are usually thicker, in the 0.75 mm range. Therefore, under certain circumstances they can only be printed on by plotters or a similarly constructed printer that does not bend the cards when they are drawn in.

The structure and dimensions of such plastic cards are largely based on the ISO standard (e.g. ISO 7810 and 7813 ). Sprayed plastic material can also be used instead of a film as the starting material. The material for such plastic cards 2 can be, for example, PVC (polyvinyl chloride), ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene copolymer), PC (polycarbonate), PE (polyethylene) or polyester.

A half can also be placed in the plastic card, for example head implanted, for example, a memory card, a memory card with a protective function or a Processor card with integrated computing function etc. receive. Furthermore, fragrance fields, holograms, 3D Objects or magnetic reading strips inserted into the card become. In the case of so-called chip plastic cards thus data traffic such as between auto standardized read / write devices.

Chip cards with integrated high-frequency transmission devices (system-adapted antennas in the inner card for contactless data traffic) are usually manufactured using lamination technology. These plastic cards 2 with a laminate structure are protected from abrasion and manipulation by external cover foils.

In the case of mono cards made of polyester or hard plastic cards with a cover film that cannot be printed by commercially available printers with satisfactory print quality, a writing area varnish is applied to the surface of the plastic card 2 to be printed later (for example a transparent or white UV varnish in the screen printing or offset process or a colored varnish depending on the purpose of the plastic card 2 ). If a mono card made of PVC is used, for example, a UV varnish can be applied to the back of the mono card, which will not be printed later, which facilitates the later releasability of the plastic card 2 from the carrier material.

For particularly abrasion-resistant surfaces (with eraser protection) the UV ink can also be produced using a Screen printing can be realized in several levels.

The special UV inks are expediently carried out before the plastic cards 2 are punched out of the film sheets. Furthermore, after or at the same time when punching out the plastic cards 2 their corners are rounded off and the edges are broken, if required. The individual unprinted plastic cards 2 are then dispensed onto a carrier material that can be fed into the printer.

All materials that can be fed in by a printer can be used as the carrier material (for example paper, film, plastic, cardboard or other materials). The plastic cards 2 are then releasably attached to the carrier material using a suitable method in such a way that they do not become detached during the printing process in a commercially available printer (for example laser printer, inkjet printer, matrix printer, needle printer, etc.).

For plastic cards to be printed by an inkjet printer, the card material of the plastic card 2 can be visibly optimized with regard to the bleeding of the ink when sprayed on and the liability of the ink after drying. The special chemical and physical properties of the ink and the map material can be compared. A plastic card made of a coated PVC material (ie with a paper-like surface on PVC) has proven to be particularly suitable for this. For all combinations of plastic card material and ink, toner or printing ink, the application of an additional suitable layer on the plastic card material can be advantageous for the purpose of better printability and better durability of the ink, toner or printing ink on the plastic card.

Has a device for dispensing the plastic cards For example, the following structure: From a card magazine the individual plastic cards are placed over a suitable one Shaft or a suitable treadmill of a first roller fed and sucked on their surface. This points the first roller, for example, over its cylinder surface area distributes many small ventilation holes to the vacuum chamber on. For this, it is connected to the ventilation holes evacuated the inside of the first roller. The first roller rolls over a feed device on which the Trä germ material is guided past the first roller.

Before the carrier material passes the first roller, an adhesive is applied, for example, at the locations of the carrier material, to which the respective card 2 should be releasably attached. To this end, the carrier material is guided past a second roller with clichés on the roller surface. On this roller there is also a tub with glue, into which the clichés are immersed when the second roller rotates. The cliché then places a precisely defined amount of adhesive in the right place on the backing material. The adhesive material can be such that the plastic card detaches from the carrier material without adhesive residues on the plastic card. In addition, in order to support the dispensing process, a third roller with clichés for pressing the plastic cards 2 against the carrier material can be provided below the first roller. The carrier material is carried out between the two rollers and equipped with the plastic card from one side, while the Kli schee presses the carrier material onto the plastic card from the other side.

The carrier material can be present for the dispensing of the Pla stikkarten 2, for example as continuous paper. For easier distribution of the carrier material, this is conveniently singled out after dispensing the plastic card 2 in stacked paper with a certain sheet format. A certain number of plastic cards 2 dispensed can be provided per sheet (for example one, four or six plastic cards 2 dispensed per A4 sheet).

The unprinted plastic cards 2 thus dispensed onto the carrier material can now be sold to the end customer together with a corresponding computer program product. The computer program product in its simplest form is a text and / or graphics processing program specially configured for the format of the plastic card 2 , with which the end customer can create his or her desired information as a print template and then print on the plastic card 2 using a print command. For this purpose, for example, no more than an ordinary personal computer with a connected printer is required, into which the carrier material with the plastic cards 2 donated is inserted, for example in the form of A4 sheets. The computer program product can guide the end customer when creating the print template so that certain minimum design rules are observed. It can give customers different sets of design combinations, in which, for example, the font size, font, angle, color, numbering, etc., are specified per design set with regard to design aspects. The customer sees on the screen of his personal computer what the printed plastic card 2 looks like after printing. He does not have to worry about the special data for the arrangement of the Pla stikkarten 2 on the carrier material, since these are known to the computer program product (for example, it may only be necessary that the user with the respective carrier material type (sheet size, etc.) with the corresponding number of plastic cards).

In the production of business cards, the computer program product can, for example, print all of the plastic cards 2 dispensed on the carrier material with a print template for the business card picture designed on the computer screen. In the case of one-off productions, however, the computer can also be informed which plastic card 2 (in the case of several plastic cards 2 per carrier material) should be printed with which printing template.

The computer program product can e.g. B. in the form of a disk or CD with the software stored on it, or as a read-only memory (EEPROM, PROM, ROM, etc.). In the latter case, for example, computers with a very simple computer architecture can be equipped with the corresponding read-only memory and, for example, be set up in the salesroom with the associated printer. The customer can thus operate the program directly on this software-specific computer and print his plastic cards 2 directly in the shop. For example, certain stores can offer the printing of high-quality business cards by making the specially equipped computer with printer available to the customer, who only purchases the carrier material with the dispensed plastic cards 2 in the store.

If the plastic card also has a memory chip holds, the computer program product can be designed in this way be that it is, for example, writing to the memory chips with the information printed on the card surface mation allowed by means of a card reader. So can e.g. B. when creating business cards on the Information to be printed in the business card also in the Memory chip can be saved from where it is easy exchange of addresses or for identification via a suitable reader can be read again later can.

Claims (10)

1. A method for producing at least one customized plastic card ( 2 ), in which:

• a) at least one unprinted plastic card ( 2 ) is produced;
• b) the at least one manufactured and unprinted plastic card ( 2 ) is releasably dispensed onto a printer-retractable carrier material ( 1 );
• c) a customized print template for which at least one unprinted plastic card ( 2 ) is created;
• d) the at least one unprinted plastic card ( 2 ) is printed by a commercially available printer with the print template provided; and
• e) the at least one printed plastic card ( 2 ) is detached from the carrier material ( 1 ).

2. The method of claim 1, wherein after step b), the carrier material ( 1 ) with disposable Pla stikkarten ( 2 ) is separated to a certain sheet size with a certain number of plastic cards per sheet. 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, in which to produce the plastic card ( 2 ) in step a), a plastic film is cut or punched into card shape. 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the edges of the cut or punched Pla stikkarten ( 2 ) are rounded in card shape. 5. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, in which in step a) at least one plastic card is produced as a monocard made of polyester and before step c) a writing field varnish for the manufacture of a pressure-resistant printing pad on the surface to be printed in step d) of the at least a plastic card ( 2 ) is applied. 6. Printer retractable carrier material ( 1 ) with at least one detachably dispensed, unprinted, from a standard printer printable plastic card ( 2 ). 7. carrier material ( 1 ) according to claim 6, in which we at least one plastic card ( 2 ) is a mono card made of polyester. 8. carrier material ( 1 ) according to claim 7, in which on the surface to be printed on the at least one Pla stikkarte ( 2 ) a writing field varnish for producing egg ner pressure-resistant printing pad is applied. 9. carrier material ( 1 ) according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the carrier material ( 1 ) has a single sheet shape, on which at least one Pla stikkarte ( 2 ) is dispensed per single sheet. 10. Product combination, the at least one carrier material ( 1 ) with a dispensed plastic card ( 2 ) according to one of claims 6 to 9 and a computer program product for creating a customer-specific printing template for the plastic card to be printed ( 2 ) by the customer and Control a commercially available printer for printing the Pla stikkarte ( 2 ) with the created template to summarizes.